cyril sneer

just got a letter from the SLC and they've managed to find out i'm not living in England. they're asking for all sorts of forms to be filled out and threatening to fine me if I don't respond.

how much do they actually know? i've been working in australia casually for 5 months but leaving for asia in a couple of weeks so wandering whether just to wait and respond to them then.

Voyager 3

Your SL repaymeants are expected to begin the April after you graduate. If you will not be in the country to start repayments or if for whatever reason you are not employed then you must inform Student Finance England (who now deal with student finance) that you will be either out of the country or not in employment.

I went to Oz on a WHV after graduating and didn't realise I had to inform SFE that I wouldn't be in the country to start repayments. I think they can actually fine you quite a lot of money each month if you don't inform them. I think the document you have been sent is an Overseas Income Assessment form. This lets them know how much you are earning in Oz (if you earn enough you have to begin repayments on your loan-but the threshold is till the same as in the UK-so you should be earning approx $35,000 per year to begin repayments). Most WHV don't earn this so obviously they don't repay anything but the form allows SFE to keep a track of where you are and whether you should be making repayments or not.

If the form is an overseas assessmest form I'd complete and send it back. Even if your moving onto Asia they'll see your not earning enough to start repayments but more importantly it could also save you from a hefty fine.

Don't worry about it too much-I gave my mum power to speak to SFE so she could sort it out on my behalf. It definitely needs responding too though.

Hope this helps!

dtilley592

Wow,

I have been living in ignorant bliss since I moved to Canada just over a year ago in regard to student loans. I had no idea that I had to inform them of anything?!? (I know that is absolutely no excuse) until I just stubbled across one of the forum discussions.

I best make contact with them, and I have no doubt they will inform me that I have hundreds of pounds worth of fines been added to my loan... whooops.

I don't ever remember notifying them of my change of address when I moved around in England, I just assumed that they got the records from HMRC.

Interestingly I went travelling for a year, and I never heard anything from them, and the repayments just carried on when I went back to work.

nic75

My friend works for the Student Loan Co and recently my son received a similar letter. He is in Australia at the moment and I was told to write to write to them quoting my son's account number confirming that he is travelling and that I will be supporting him to travel for a year. This is all that is needed for them to defer the loan until you're back in the UK. The fine for ignoring their correpondence is £300 and I'm not sure how often they apply it.

stuartsummers1980

If you follow this link you will learn all you need to about what happens when you go overseas;

http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.u..._schema=PORTAL

As you can see there are two separate repayment amounts based on the country you are in. One when you're honest and one when you're naughty and they catch up with you!